Billy Collins Reads ‘Introduction to Mindful Poetry’

One of my favorite professors once said that it’s impossible to overinterpret a poem — a type of literary analysis called close reading.

As I heard him say those words, I was taken aback with a matter-of-factly, arrogant naiveté of a complete beginner in poetry. To my defense, my reaction was far from uncommon — one could even say it was typical of people who felt intimidated before a strange and difficult art.

For whatever reason — trauma suffered in high school English class, the anxiety of not getting it right — we often bypass the pleasure of experiencing a poem and go straight to trying to interpret it, hoping to figure out “what it really means.” We lack the capacity to feel the poem through our senses, to luxuriate in its mystery and wonder; we lack the capacity to enjoy the gift of an art so elemental yet so transcendent, so capable of Truth. I was recently reminded of this tendency when I came across “Introduction to [Mindful] Poetry” by Billy Collins, included in the altogether sublime The Apple That Astonished Paris. Read here by the poet himself in his warm, cheerful voice. Enjoy!

INTRODUCTION TO [MINDFUL] POETRY
by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Complement this mindfulness poem from The Apple That Astonished Paris with Emily Dickinson and Bill Murray on how to read a poem.

Gavril Nikolaev

I’m a freelance writer and mindfulness advocate behind this blog. What you see here is the combination of my three favorite things: reading, writing, and mindfulness. While you’re here, subscribe to my blog updates and gain access to free mindfulness resources for stress relief.